Driving Force

I got an email from my mom a few days ago. It was about a cousin of mine who reads Urban Samurai. And my cousin was going on about it to my aunt and uncle, about how good it is. About what a good writer she thinks I am. I’ve heard similar compliments before from other people, but for some reason, this one moved me. It inspired me. I wanted to stop what I was doing and just write.

It got me thinking…about inspiration. About that driving force that seems so strong in some people and so lacking in others. Or so strong sometimes in a person and so lacking at other times.

Inspired, or ‘aroused with the spirit to do something.’ What is giving you that spirit? What physically moves you to do something? Can we control it? Or manufacture inspiration?

We can.

Think about what you want to do. In your wildest dreams. Think big. Now think about how you are going to get there…daunting, right?

Without that driving force behind you, a dream is nothing but a pipe dream.

Now open your eyes to the inspiration all around you. It is waiting for you to notice it, at every turn. In every dark corner. In every bright light.

Inspiration can come from anything. It can come from a book, a movie, a picture, or a quote. From a web site or a quick email. From a person or even a pet. From a death or a birth. From a disease or a cure. From a compliment or an insult. From success or failure. Sometimes it comes from something very tiny like a simple nod of approval or in something as large as a natural disaster. I knew a guy who was in New York for 9/11, and immediately after, he quit his finance job and moved to LA to pursue his dream to become a comedian. Inspiration can come from apathy. I once even found inspiration on the side of a box of pancake mix. That is not a lie.

Open your mind to it. Take another view of the same things you see every sinlge day and ask, how is this trying to inspire me? You can figure out the what all by yourself. Now be open to the things that can push you in that direction.

I know someone that went through a long period of unhappiness. And I would ask her, ‘what is it going to take for you to be inspired to live a better life? For someone to die? For someone to be diagnosed with something serious?’ Don’t do that. Don’t wait for some tragedy like that.

There has to be another way. There is another way. Don’t wait to be inspired. Go get inspired. Seek it out. Then use that as your fuel. Or
your muse.

A lot of you have emailed me and posted telling me that I inspire you. At first, it made me feel weird. I’m not great with attention on me. Then it hit me. You collectively, and many of you individually, are my inspiration. So why shouldn’t I be yours? So…

Get off your ass. And go do the things you were meant to do in this fucking world.